Don't Cry
by Momma-Ran
Summary: Kenny dies a lot. Before he goes into a coma, he tells Kyle not to cry the next time he dies. K2 one shot.
1. Chapter 1

_It seemed like nothing could keep Kenny dead, after all, he's died at least 58 times and has come back to life every time. We don't know how or why he comes back._

I run as fast as my legs will carry me, the blond haired Kenny beside me. Where are Cartman and Stan? No time to think about that now, we have to run before this crazy guy kills us both. He's yelling about something that neither of us can understand and throwing things at us. Over the cold, snowy landscape we run until coming to the town. Surprisingly he doesn't stop chasing us.

_When he came back, he told us where he'd gone to. Hell. Always Hell every time and never Heaven. I always wonder what that means for the rest of us; are we bound for the fiery pits of the Underworld? Oddly enough he never complains about it. I constantly wonder why._

As we turn into an alleyway my feet slide from the ice-covered ground and I fall. If it had been Cartman or someone else with me, they would have left me for dead. But this is Kenny we're talking about and although he may have ulterior motives for coming back for me (namely all the money I have in my possession), he does it anyway. "Kyle!" he gasps, also slipping as he turns sharply to retrieve me but somehow managing to stay on his booted feet. The man is just across the street now, a large steel bar in his hands.

_"What's it like in Hell?" I ask Kenny. We're alone now, sitting on a bench and watching the snow fall lazily from the sky. Stan and Cartman are away on vacations with their families.  
Kenny looks at me then at the cloudy night sky. "Why do you ask?"  
"I'm curious."  
"Don't worry, Kyle, you aren't going to Hell." Face still turned towards the sky he peeks at me from the corner of his eye, a slight smirk on his face._

Quickly I back up against the alley wall. There's a flash of silvery-grey metal and then a sickening sound. When I open my eyes I expect to have the pipe through me, but to my immense relief there is no such gaping wound. And then I see Kenny.

_The blond haired, blue-eyed teen has a tortured expression on his face and an axe through the back of his head. I can see pain glazing his brilliant blue eyes. Just because he comes back from the dead doesn't mean that the wounds that kill him don't hurt any less. He takes a step and then falls in front of Stan. "Dead again." The raven haired teen mutters, bending down to pick him up. We need to take him to the hospital. Again._

Kenny's hands are flat against the wall above me and a small smile is on his face, he doesnt look worried at all. Crimson waterfalls around a slab of silvery-grey, leaving a trail on Kenny's orange parka before dripping down to my parka. The silvery-grey pipe is right where the blond haired teen's heart should be. With every beat of his dying heart more blood spurts from the wound and speckles my face. When I look into his blue eyes I see that they aren't glazed with pain like the other times. "K-Kyle…" I'm shocked to find he can still speak. "Don't…c-cry…" The beautiful teen collapses on me, head in my lap. His body slides low, revealing blood-coated metal. All of a sudden I realize that I'm crying.

_"Kenny…" it's my turn to visit him in the hospital. He looks so small and weak attached to the various IVs. This time he's been dead for a week, but no one is giving up hope that he'll come back. "Wake up, dude." I don't know why, but it bothers me that he's been dead for so long. Has Hell finally decided to keep his soul? Without thinking I bend over and place a small kiss on his pale lips. Just as I sit back down in the chair beside his bed his blue eyes flutter open. "Kenny?!" Looking over at the heart monitor I watch the lines appear and move up and down. He's alive!  
"Kyle?" he looks at me, eyes a little confused. "Why are you crying?"  
"I thought you weren't coming back." I can only admit this in front of him and only because I can pay him to keep his mouth shut.  
"Kyle, don't cry, I'll always come back." His blue eyes are no longer confused, instead their confident._

Everything is a blur, but I remember seeing Stan rush towards us, cell phone pulled out. The flashing of blue and red lights and them taking Kenny away in an ambulance. There are people talking to me, I know that there are, but I can't really hear them or reply.

_"Hey! You're back from Hell again!" Stan greets Kenny.  
"Yeah." The blond blushes a little and smiles.  
"Too bad. I thought you were dead for good this time." Cartman comments, probably pretending that he isn't glad to see Kenny alive and well.  
"You can't get rid of me that easily." While everyone crowds around Kenny, his blue eyes make contact with my green ones. The look in them tells me he knows about the kiss. He may not have been alive, but he does remember it. Thankfully he says nothing and gives no other hints about what happened while he was dead._

I don't leave the hospital bed that Kenny is lying in. He's already had surgery so that the pipe is no longer inside of him and the doctors have patched him up as best they could. But this time the feeling that it isn't going to be enough and that he isn't going to come back to life haunts me. The feeling is stronger than the time he was out cold for a week. "Kenny." I want to cry, but no tears fall. Not crying is the least I can do for him after he saved my life.

_They're alone again, something that's becoming more frequent, this time in Kyle's room. Kenny, after searching for things to steal says, "Remember the last time I died?" I nod. "Why did you kiss me?" I should have known it was only a matter of time before he asks.  
"I don't know."  
"I thought you and Stan were…together…" Stan is an ok guy, a little ordinary and a lot gay; but he hasn't held my attention lately. The person who has held my attention is in my room with me right now.  
I guess it's because he makes me question my religion. But don't most people tend to stay away from people who make them do that? "No, dude, it's not like that."  
"Oh." Why did he ask about Stan and I? "So you wanna lend me a couple dollars?"  
"Fuck you."  
"Then will you lend me some?"  
"No."_

"Kyle?" Stan asks. He's standing in the doorway of Kenny's hospital room. I don't reply. "He's going to come back, you know."  
"I don't think he is, Stan." I murmur my fears out loud.  
"Don't let him hear you say that."  
"I'm serious, dude!" As though it's supposed to make me feel better he wraps his arms around me, his head resting on my shoulder blades. "I don't think he'll come back."  
"Kyle, Kenny has been mutilated and killed in the most gruesome ways and he's always came back."  
"You weren't there, Stan. You didn't see his eyes…" Stan is silent so I go on, "I think he knew that this was the last time he'll die." The raven squeezes me then leaves me to my fears. What if…what if that's really what that look in his eyes was for?

_"Why don't you ever go to Heaven, Kenny?" I ask.  
"Because-"  
Cartman cuts him off "Because he's a fag. And fags can't go to Heaven."  
"Shut up, fat ass!" Kenny growls.  
Stan stops the fight before it can really begin. "Hey, you two calm down."_

The lights are finally dim, but still pretty bright. Its like sleep isn't allowed in a hospital, even at night. "Kenny, please wake up." I murmur, my head resting on the side of his bed and his cold lifeless hand in mine.


	2. Chapter 2

_"I'm back." Stan and I look up from our card game to see Kenny. He looks battered and bruised, as though the torments Hell had in store for his soul transferred to his body as well.  
"Welcome back, Kenny." We say in unison.  
He smiles cutely, face and eyes brightening. "Thanks guys."_

The guys don't understand my obsession with Kenny. And that's what it's grown into, an obsession. No one really knows why I stay by his side as much as I can. The stupid adults think I feel guilty for being the survivor. His parents, my parents, keep telling me that it isn't my fault. I know it isn't; not really. After all, Kenny dies daily. No one actually knows that he dies so often. Only twice they've discovered that his heart has stopped and both times he was in the hospital for more than a week. Last time, with the axe, and this time.  
I hear hesitant footsteps and see Butters half way across the room. "I-is he still…?" I nod, noting the stuffed bear in the cross-dressers hands. Knowing Butters, he probably made it. The little blond boy, who looks so much like Kenny its almost painful, sets the stuffed bear next on the white sheets. "Damien is keeping him longer than usual." Damien is the Prince of Darkness, the demon son of Satan and said to be the anti-Christ. Butters voice sounds sad.  
"You don't like it when he dies, do you?" Now that he thinks of it, Kenny dying has never worried him or anyone else. But Butters really cares about the poor teenager and he always notices it when Kenny is dead. In response Butters shakes his head, biting his bottom lip and never taking his blue eyes off the blond.

_"Damien let me go early because he wanted to see Pip." Well that doesn't make any sense. Apparently I'm not the only one who doesn't get it because Stan and Cartman stare at Kenny like he's insane.  
"Who's Damien? Your fag boyfriend?" Cartman asks, eyes narrowing.  
"He's the anti-Christ? Satan's son? A freaking demon?!" he prompts us and seems aghast when we don't get it. If he wasn't him, he would probably hit us. "He's a demon I met in Hell." Its never ceases to amaze me that Kenny goes to Hell just about every few days._

"I hope Damien gives him back." Butters takes the chair opposite me, clutching Kenny's other hand. Butters cries easily and I wouldn't be surprised if that's what he's doing now. I want to cry too, but I still have that small payment of no tears to pay back to our dead friend. "I talked to Pip and he says that Damien might actually keep him this time." My eyes tear themselves away from Kenny to look at Butters. I can only imagine how horrified my expression looks.  
"What?!"

_"What do you do in Hell?"  
"It's not much different from here."  
"Huh?"  
"Don't worry, Kyle."  
"Kenny that doesn't make sense."_

As I listen to Butters a cold feeling settles in me until I feel as dead as Kenny is. Kenny, my friend, might not wake up. He might not return to Earth. "Ask Pip why Damien won't give him back!"  
Startled by his voice Butters looks up. "Pip says Damien hasn't come to visit him in a while." The tone of voice makes me feel confused. "He thinks that Damien has…found a new play toy."  
"Aren't Damien and Pip boyfriends?"  
"Yeah. But Damien might have taken an interest in Kenny." A fresh wave of tears slides down Butter's cheeks.

_"Is that really why you can't go to Heaven?"  
"Is what?"  
"That you're a fag." A humph comes from Kenny, who idly stirs his hot chocolate. "Then what is it?"  
"I don't want to ruin it for you, Jew." The use of my religion as a nickname just intrigues me further.  
"But-"  
"Kyle, I don't want to talk about it."_

The hospital gown that most patients have to wear is never on Kenny. If one were…well…it would seem like he really is dead and never coming back. A guy looks weak enough with half a dozen knives sticking out of him and a river of blood flowing; he doesn't need a flimsy gown to go with it. So as usual he's in his orange parka. The only difference is that he's paler than usual and his hood is down. Outside it snows and the wind howls. Typical weather for South Park, so I don't take it as an omen as some would. Butters has, thankfully, left asking me to give him word once Kenny wakes up. Neither of us says 'if he wakes up', but we're both thinking it.


	3. Chapter 3

"You…didn't cry…did you?" The voice that reaches my ears is weak and amused. Slowly lifting my head I see that Kenny's blue eyes are open and he's awake. But more importantly, he's alive. My friend is alive!  
"You fucking idiot! Of course not." I reply, having a really difficult time not crying. A month. Kenny was dead a whole month. It was the longest time ever. He smiles as though he hasn't been dead for so long. Then I remember that he never knows how long he's been dead. "You were out for a month."  
"A month?!" the blond yelps.  
"Yeah." He's silent, obviously thinking it over.  
"Did anyone miss me?"  
"Butters."  
"That's it?"  
"Well...Stan probably did too."  
"Anyone else?" Now I see that it's unavoidable.  
"Me." Kenny sits up, looks around. "Butters made you that." I answer the unspoken question.  
"It's cute."  
"You're just as gay as Stan." Blue eyes spare me a look.  
"Well your Stan's boyfriend, Kyle."  
"I am not." He grins at me. "Speaking of which…what's going on between Damien and Pip?" I watch Kenny shift uncomfortably while pulling the IV out of his wrist.  
"Where did you hear that something's wrong with them?"  
"Butters asked Pip to ask Damien when you'd be back. Pip thinks that you're Damien's new…boy toy."  
"That's sort of offending…What do you think?"  
I hesitate before saying, "I don't know."  
"Don't worry about it, Kyle." The line he usually uses to close conversations, indicating that he doesn't want to talk about it anymore. I sigh, wondering why he keeps so many secrets from his friends. Cartman calling him a fag makes me change my mind. I can understand Cartman, but not telling me and Stan? No way. "Damien wants to take their relationship to the next level but Pip is…nervous. I was giving him tips."  
I stare at Kenny, my head tilted to the side as though that will help me to understand him. The blond drops his feet over the edge of the hospital bed and glances at the closed door of his room. "I was so worried." I admit softly. My fears seem irrational now, but they were very real these past few weeks.  
"I told you I would come back." I nod, looking at my hands. I can still see his blood on them even though I scrubbed them just about raw. "Kyle, look at me." He grabs my hand from my lap and presses it to his heart. Underneath the parka, t-shirt, and skin I feel it beating strongly. "I'm alive." I guess that I don't look convinced because he pulls my hand down under his clothing then back up to his chest, our skin touching.  
With my free hand I pull his head down and kiss him softly on the lips. To my immense satisfaction his heart skips a beat then speeds up double time. "Fucking fag, worrying me like that."  
"Fucking Jew you owe me money for this."  
"What are you, a whore now?"  
"You should know better than to give me any ideas, Kyle. But if you like I'll be your boy toy; for a price." I yank my hand back, although the offer is tempting. I'm already going to get shit for hardly leaving Kenny's side while he was dead; if anyone finds out about me accepting an offer like that then I'll be shunned. Or something to that extent. My timing couldn't have been better because a few seconds later the guys come in.  
"Kenny, dude, you're back!" Stan laughs. "How was Hell?" Cartman looks annoyed as Butter takes my place in front of Kenny, wrapping his arms around the once-again-living teen.  
"Hot." This earns snickers from all of us, even grouchy Cartman. I smile and laugh with the rest of them, feeling tears still building up. But that's for a time when I'm alone so that Kenny won't ever know. After all, he's the one who saved my life. Don't cry, I tell myself. Don't cry for him. I pull him into a hug and Stan does the same while Cartman tells us how gay we look. For once I don't care; the tears I'd felt seem to disappear to the place tears go when you don't use them.


End file.
